There’s a particular weight to records that age alongside their audience, and Augie March are marking that passage with a national tour celebrating 20 years of Moo, You Bloody Choir. The band have now confirmed a Sydney date for the run, performing the album in full at Manning Bar on May 1, closing a tour that begins in Perth before moving through Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane.
The anniversary shows arrive alongside news that Davey Lane, known both for his solo work and as guitarist for You Am I, will join the full national run with his own band and new material. The pairing suggests a tour built around familiarity and shared lineage, with Lane’s melodic rock sensibility sitting comfortably alongside Augie March’s more literary, expansive songwriting.
When Moo, You Bloody Choir arrived in 2006, it marked a subtle shift in tone for the band, expanding the sonic palette established on Strange Bird while retaining frontman Glenn Richards’ dense lyrical style. The album’s opening track ‘One Crowded Hour’ became its defining moment, reaching #29 on the ARIA Singles Chart and taking the top position in triple j’s Hottest 100, but the record’s reputation has rested as much on its sequencing as its standout single. Across 14 tracks, the album moves between folk, country-pop and indie rock textures, balancing emotional restraint with intricate arrangement.
Recorded in San Francisco following an extensive North American tour, the album marked a turning point in Augie March’s career, going on to achieve Platinum certification, win the Australian Music Prize and broaden the band’s audience both locally and internationally. Two decades on, the group are revisiting the record as a complete body of work for the first time, framing the anniversary as an opportunity to reassess rather than simply commemorate.
Since forming in the late 1990s, Augie March have built a catalogue spanning eight studio albums and more than a decade of touring, earning ARIA nominations and cultivating a dedicated following drawn to their balance of precision and unpredictability. Their approach to these anniversary shows reflects that ethos, positioning the performances as both structured and conversational, with the band leaning into the fluid connection that has long defined their live presence.
The 20th anniversary tour offers audiences a rare chance to experience Moo, You Bloody Choir in full, presented in venues that favour intimacy over scale, closing with the newly announced Sydney performance at Manning Bar on May 1.
AUGIE MARCH – MOO, YOU BLOODY CHOIR 20TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR DATES:
Tickets available from http://www.teamwrktouring.com/tours/augie-march-anniversary-tour
FRI 3 APR | FREO.SOCIAL, PERTH WA
SAT 4 APR | THE GOV, ADELAIDE SA
FRI 10 APR | THE CROXTON, MELBOURNE VIC
FRI 17 APR | THE TRIFFID, BRISBANE QLD
FRI 1 MAY | MANNING BAR, SYDNEY NSW * NEW SHOW ADDED
